One of the first obstacles encountered by travelers visiting new and/or unfamiliar areas is finding a way around. Many travelers desire modes of transportation that offer flexibility and fast availability, to maximize time spent at destinations. However, lack of knowledge of the location of points of interest and how to get from point A to point B complicates personal transportation options. These complications are often compounded by a lack of knowledge of the existence of various points of interest. In other cases, travelers may know what sorts of services or attractions they would like to visit, but be unaware of the local names of the services and/or attractions. For example, travelers may know that they want to go shopping for clothes or gifts, but are unfamiliar with the names of various stores offering such goods in a destination, let alone their location or how to get there.
Known mobility and navigation methods are not entirely satisfactory for solving the range of obstacles presented to travelers. For example, while taking a taxi or other hired vehicle solves the problem of knowing how to get to various points of interest, such transport options may not offer suggestions for points of interest, and lack the easy availability of transportation options that are personal to a traveler. Travelers must wait for taxis, either by calling or hailing, which can diminish time spent at attractions. Likewise, public transit typically involves some form of waiting, often lacks information as to points of interest, and with the possible exception of widely known attractions, fails to provide directions to points of interest. Renting a car offers great personal flexibility, but often without guidance as to points of interest. Moreover, a rental car, as well as a taxi or hired vehicle, is not feasible where points of interest are located in pedestrian-only areas, such as shopping centers and pedestrian malls. While walking is the ultimate form of personal transportation, walking can be comparatively slow, limiting the amount of ground and distance between points of interest that can be covered, and becomes increasingly tiresome and difficult when a person has multiple bags or cargo to haul.
In addition, while smartphones have greatly improved the ability of travelers to obtain information about destinations as well as travel directions, smartphones do not always provide easily accessible information about specific destinations such as shopping centers or urban cores, and further may depend upon a traveler obtaining an appropriate SIM card to even enable access to a wireless network proximate to points of interest.
Chinese publication CN205113562U discloses an electric powered scooter, which includes GPS for navigation and route planning, and sensors for obstacle detection. However, the scooter does not provide autonomous navigation and an autonomous driving system that are adapted to a specific region.
PCT Publication No. WO 02/36419 A1 discloses a three-wheeled collapsible electric scooter with a provision to include a PDA for GPS navigation. The publication also discloses a rental terminal as a possible means for temporarily obtaining the scooter. However, the scooter does not provide guidance as to points of interest in a specific region. A user may need to go through a general GPS system and may have difficulty finding a specific point of interest without additional assistance. Further, the user needs to operate the scooter because there is no autonomous driving system.
Thus, there exists a need for personal transportation systems that improve upon and advance the design of known personal transportation systems and options.